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Fixing tax code less important to high-earners

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Friday January 3, 2014 8:34 AM

After reading the Tuesday op-ed column “You think your taxes are complicated now” by Cal Thomas,
I became quite concerned for those taxpayers who make upward of $200,000 annually ($250,000 for
couples filing jointly).

They are so well-off financially that they must endure the terrible hardship of understanding
the federal tax code, difficult even for college graduates.

I expect Thomas is a college graduate, but his complaint should not be a problem for him, as he
admitted he doesn’t calculate his own taxes. Or maybe he is just sympathetic toward his tax
preparer, who bills him for the work.

Thomas said well-off taxpayers find themselves in the top tax bracket of 39.6 percent. That is a
“marginal” tax bracket paid by few in that income group.

They are the ones who use itemized deductions and exemptions to significantly reduce their
actual tax percentage of Modified Adjusted Gross Income. A prime example is former Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s reported federal tax of 14.1 percent of his MAGI in 2011.

Perhaps Congress will simplify the tax code in the future to ease the anguish Thomas and those
like him have with it.